REL Field Marketing and Powerforce head up the charts with Great Place to Work
Posted by
Core events business, London Marathon Events also gained Great Place To Work certification
The Great Place to Work (GPTW) certification scheme has announced its 2020 rankings this week. It is the 20th anniversary year for Great Place to Work. Companies listed in the rankings are across all industries and scale of company with separate league tables for Super-large (1000+employees), Large (251-1000 employees), Medium (51-250) and Small (20-50) size businesses.
This year certification was accorded to 30 Super-Large, 35 Large, 70 Medium, and 27 Small businesses.
GPTW’s detailed and challenging certification scheme has additional relevance in the current working climate when flexibility, office structure and teamwork are being tested. GPTW certificate holders have typically invested in and implemented sound wellness structures evidenced in employee retention and productivity.
The Super-large category saw Salesforce top the ratings. The IT company has 1999 employees. Paul Smith, executive VP and GM, UK&I commented: “Our culture is very intentional – we write it down, we prioritise it, and we are constantly improving upon it.” The top 20 in Super-large included Cisco, Hilton, Mars, Flight Centre, Britvic and Gap.
The large category was especially notable to us because REL Field Marketing has risen to number six in the ranking.
Stephen Gordon, MD reported: “The REL difference is simple, our absolute pursuit of a place where people work because they want to, not because they have to.”
Following the announcement he elaborated: “In these very unusual times I am so delighted for and proud of our family after placing at #6 on the Great Place to Work UK Large companies ranking list. This is testament to our culture driven by the unique People Promise we created with our colleagues that focuses on creating a workplace where people come to work because they want to not because they have to. Huge thank you to all our people and our partners who support this approach and achievement. We truly believe that engagement is the magic dust which releases the discretionary effort, empowerment and entrepreneurship which deliver outstanding performance for our partners.”
In the Medium size category REL is joined by sister agency Powerforce, taking 18th place in the Medium rankings.
Nicky Sanderson, managing director stated: “Our engaged, passionate, informed, consulted, amazing, motivated, happy people and unique culture make ALL of the difference to our success as a business.”
Further to this she commented: “We learned that we had not only retained our Great Place To Work accreditation but had leapfrogged 22 places to #18 in the largest category for Medium Workplace (only 70 businesses were successful in achieving accreditation). To say I am proud of the leadership that our management team have shown on our journey over the last 3 years to build an outstanding culture to ensure are teams are engaged would be an understatement. This has been a real team effort and I could not be prouder of our business right now! Our people make ALL of the difference to our success.”
REL and Powerforce’s focus on people will surely see them come through this trading period well.
For one of the newly accredited GPTW businesses, COVID-19 has seen London Marathon Events – ranked 53rd in Medium – thrust into the limelight.
“We are proud to be a Best Workplace™ and a centre of Excellence in Wellbeing in our first assessment year,” said Stephanie Easton, head of people, London Marathon Events.
For London Marathon Events the certification is a way of formally recognising he work of several years of investing in the workplace.
“We have been measuring engagement levels internally for four years and wanted to benchmark externally to understand how we truly can be a great place to work. Staff share our vision of Inspiring Activity. Our values are deeply embedded into everyday life. There’s a lot to love: the culture, our people and the difference our events make to people’s lives.”
Inspiring people and inspiring events are certainly the medicine many will need when circumstances prevail.
